<!DOCTYPE html>
<html>
<head>
<meta charset="UTF-8">
<title>promise me (we'll never grow up) by good_ho_mens</title>
<style type="text/css">

body { background-color: #ffffff; }
.CI {
text-align:center;
margin-top:0px;
margin-bottom:0px;
padding:0px;
}
.center   {text-align: center;}
.cover    {text-align: center;}
.full     {width: 100%; }
.quarter  {width: 25%; }
.smcap    {font-variant: small-caps;}
.u        {text-decoration: underline;}
.bold     {font-weight: bold;}
</style>
</head>
<body>
<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/27497830">promise me (we'll never grow up)</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/good_ho_mens/pseuds/good_ho_mens'>good_ho_mens</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>DC One-offs [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Young Justice (Comics)</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Bart Allen Needs A Hug, Canonical Character Death, Cassie Sandsmark is Young Justice's Leader, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Everyone Is Alive, Gen, I wrote this in like an hour so lets hope it doesnt suck ass lmao, Nightmares, Platonic Cuddling, Protective Cassie Sandsmark, Protective Kon-El | Conner Kent, Protective Tim Drake, and they gET THEM, but only mentioned, have you ever had an angst session with your friends, me a touch starved dumbass: i can fit so many cuddles in here, so do the rest of them, this is that kjsbjvkv</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-11-10</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-08 02:26:51</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>2,420</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/27497830</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/good_ho_mens/pseuds/good_ho_mens</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>Kon tips his head against Cassie's shoulder, lifting his hand, pinky out, “Promise.”</p><p>“Promise,” Cassie says with conviction, locking her own pinky with Kon’s.</p><p>Tim snorts, but links his pinky along with theirs. “Promise.”</p><p>Bart grins, slamming his pinky into the mix and then twisting his hand so all their fingers are entwined. Tim wasn’t aware he could hold hands with so many people. “Promise.”</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Bart Allen &amp; Tim Drake &amp; Kon-El | Conner Kent &amp; Cassie Sandsmark</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>DC One-offs [6]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1623775</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>17</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>276</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>promise me (we'll never grow up)</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>Tim closes his eyes against the bright screen of his computer, pinching his nose. It’s exactly 3:38am, and Tim had been nonstop working since the team got back from their mission. His head aches just behind his eyes, but he’s not done yet. The W.E presentation needs to be written, and the sooner he can get the mission report to Batman, the better. </p><p>Besides, if he gets everything done now, it means Cassie, Bart, and Kon don’t have to worry about anything but training and recuperating for the next few days.</p><p>With a sigh, Tim stands, padding quietly over to the coffee pot in his Nightwing socks. He pulls out a clean mug, sparing a glance at the couch where Bart had passed out the second they’d come back, his super metabolism seeping away at his energy.</p><p>Coffee cup in hand, Tim pauses. His eyebrows furrow, watching Bart shift on the couch. Shifting is fine, but the way he’s moving, the jerky movements, it’s off.</p><p>“Stop,” Bart whispers, sounding as scared as he did the die he watched one of his speedforce copies die.</p><p>The mug is set down on the counter and Tim is sliding across the kitchen floor in a second. He stops a few feet away from his friend, hands out in front of him. “Bart?”</p><p>“I had- I had to, I’m sorry.” Bart starts to thrash, the blanket Kon had thrown over him tangling in his legs and across his chest. It just makes him struggle harder, “Please! I had-”</p><p>“Bart!” Tim sits down, pulling the blanket off enough to let Bart’s hands free. He grabs his forearms, holding him still so he doesn’t hurt himself. “Bart, wake up, it’s a dream.”</p><p>As Bart keeps wiggling, muttering more pleads, Tim tries desperately to remember what it was like when Dick calmed him down from nightmares. He hushes Bart gently, pulling him up so he’s slumped against his side. Tim rubs his back, not letting go even as Bart keeps moving, throwing his arms out.</p><p>“I’m sorry-”</p><p>“It’s a dream, Bart,” Tim whispers, his throat clenches as he repeats his older brother's words, “You’re right here, with me. You’re safe. I have you.”</p><p>Bart slowly starts to calm, panting in Tim’s arms. His eyes squeezed shut. “Tim?”</p><p>“Right here. You’re safe.”</p><p>“What’s happening?” Kon shouts, choosing that moment to stomp down the stairs. </p><p>Tim sets a hand on top of Bart’s head, sliding it over his messy hair. “Kon, calm down.”</p><p>“I heard-” Kon stops short when he sees them. His mouth turns down in a frown. “Oh.”</p><p>“Didn’t mean to wake you up,” Bart tells him, smiling shakily.</p><p>Before Kon can reply, there’s a crash, and Cassie half flies, half falls down the stairs. She stands up, hair sticking up every which way and mascara smeared under her eyes. “I’m here! I’m up! Who am I punching?”</p><p>Kon snorts and pulls her to her feet, “Bart’s nightmares.”</p><p>“Okay, it’s almost four am, we fought wolf hybrid ninja people six hours ago,” Cassie stumbles over to the couch, surveying the room warily, “so I’m going to need you to tell me point blank if you’re being serious.”</p><p>Bart sits up more, shaking his head. “I’m okay. You guys can go back to bed.”</p><p>Tim watches as Cassie and Kon share a look, and then both turn to him with the same one. Cassie smiles warmly, “I’m going to make some hot chocolate.”</p><p>“No, Cassie, really-”</p><p>“Hey!” Kon interrupts, sitting down on Bart’s other side. “Not your call, you don’t get to decide if I want hot chocolate or not.”</p><p>Behind the couch, Cassie pulls out a pot and the milk out of the fridge, Tim realizes the exact moment he’s fucked up.</p><p>“Tim,” Cassie says sweetly.</p><p>“Cassie.”</p><p>“Is this coffee new?”</p><p>Tim stares resolutely at a wall, ignoring Kon glaring at him over Bart’s head. “No?”</p><p>“So this Wayne Tech computer open to the reports we’re all supposed to help out with in the morning isn’t yours?”</p><p>“No?”</p><p>Cassie sighs.</p><p>Bart looks up at him, eyebrows furrowed, “You’ve been up?”</p><p>Tim looks between him and Kon, and then huffs. “I just had some stuff to do.”</p><p>Kon’s look obviously means ‘we’ll talk’, and Tim resigns himself to another discussion about self care.</p><p>They sit quietly, Tim still rubbing up and down Bart’s back absentmindedly as he listens to Cassie putter around the kitchen by the light of his computer screen and the emergency bulbs lining the floor. Kon is holding one of Bart’s hands, tracing over the lines in his palm.</p><p>Vaguely, Tim realizes they’re all still in their uniforms, Kon missing everything but his spandex onesie, a bathrobe thrown haphazardly over the top. Tim is wearing his full suit, minus the shoes, gloves, and mask. Bart is only missing his gloves, shoes still on and cowl pulled down behind his neck. When he glances back at Cassie, she has the tiger slippers Bart got her for Christmas last year on over her knee high socks, her skirt and shirt still on, jacket and belts discarded.</p><p>Maybe he underestimated the toll the last mission took on them.</p><p>Somewhere between Kon’s look and Tim surveying his team, Cassie finishes the hot coco, carrying four steaming mugs over to the couch, sitting down next to Tim carefully as she passes them out.</p><p>They sit quietly, blowing on their drinks and generally avoiding each other's eyes. Finally, Cassie clears her throat, “Bart? Do you want to talk about it?”</p><p>“Nothing to talk about,” He tells her, smiling over his mug. Cassie frowns, but lets it go.</p><p>Tim barely waits a second to speak up. “I’ve had this recurring nightmare, ever since we got you and Kon back.”</p><p>Bart jerks up to look at him, almost spilling his hot coco all over his lap. “What?”</p><p>Glancing at Cassie, who nods at him, Tim hums. “We’re uh- we’re in the middle of a fight, and my shoelaces come untied.”</p><p>Kon snorts, and Bart wacks his arm.</p><p>Tim lets himself smile a little back, “Yeah, kind of dumb, especially since I don’t even have shoelaces. But they… they get stuck, and I trip, and I can’t get free. The three of you are in trouble and I can’t get to you because I’m stuck-”</p><p>Cassie’s hand finds his arm, squeezing lightly. “It’s okay.”</p><p>“Yeah. Yeah. So anyway, I’m stuck and all of you are in trouble and I can’t get to you. I think it might be a form of sleep paralysis because…” Tim swallows thickly, running his hand up Bart’s back and taking a breath. “Because I can never make myself wake up until I watch all of you die.”</p><p>When Tim looks away from the wall, Kon is staring at him with wide eyes, his face twisted in pain. He looks down and Bart is giving him the same look, jaw slack. Cassie just smiles sadly at him, they’d found out about each other's nightmares a long time ago after running into each other one too many times on the way to Bart or Kon’s bedrooms, just to reassure themselves they’re really alive.</p><p>“Shit,” Kon whispers, and the hand not holding Bart’s settles at the back of Tim’s neck, his thumb running over his hairline.</p><p>“I remember Kon’s funeral vividly,” Cassie says suddenly. She clears her throat and sets her mug on the coffee table. “It wasn’t raining, like it always is in the movies, you know? It was sunny. Sunny and hot in Kansas.”</p><p>Kon’s eyes are blown wide, his hand tightening on Tim’s neck. Tim wonders if he’d ever really thought about it, that they all had to bury him.</p><p>“Windy, too,” Tim prompts.</p><p>Bart’s arm circles around his torso, his cheek presses into his side.</p><p>“Yeah, windy. I was in the back, I didn’t want to disturb anyone. After they carried the coffin in, Clark stood up to talk, except he froze. He just stood there, for what had to be three minutes, and no one moved. We all just sat there, staring back. Then Jon stood up, and grabbed his hand, and Clark just started talking, like Jon had flipped a switch.”</p><p>“Jon?” Kon’s eyes are glistening, and so are Cassie’s as she nods. Tim presses his lips to the top of Bart’s head, looking away, he gives them their moment.</p><p>Cassie clears her throat, ducking her head so she can meet Bart’s eyes. “Except in my dream, he doesn’t start talking about Kon. Jon takes his hand and everyone turns and looks at me, and then Clark tells me that it’s my fault, that I should have saved him, and the coffin opens and Kon and you are laying there, and you’re staring at me too, but you’re dead.”</p><p>Bart makes a choking noise, “But that’s not true! You couldn’t have saved us.”</p><p>“I know,” Cassie tells him. She leans forward, and Bart meets her halfway, their foreheads pressed together as a tear runs down Cassie’s nose and drops onto Bart’s cheek.</p><p>After a minute, Bart shakes his head. “It’s different, though.”</p><p>“What is?”</p><p>“Your nightmare,” Bart flicks his eyes up to Tim, “and yours. It’s different. You lost us, I just-”</p><p>“My dream wants me to choose,” Kon interrupts, lowering himself down onto the ground so he’s kneeling in front of Bart. “All of you are unconscious and falling, but you’re too close to the ground and too far apart for me to save all of you, so I have to choose.”</p><p>“And?”</p><p>Kon’s eyebrows lowers, and his lip quivers, just once. “It’s different, every time, but it doesn’t matter. The point is I died, like you did, and I still get nightmares.”</p><p>“There’s no Monopoly on trauma,” Cassie laughs, lifting her chin just a little to kiss Bart’s nose.</p><p>Tim lets out a steady breath, setting his own cup down so he can wrap his arm around Cassie and pull her against his side, Bart halfway in his lap with Cassie’s forehead leaning against the top of his. Cassie makes a grabby motion, dragging Kon practically on top of her so he can settle his legs over one of Tim’s and Bart can wrap an arm around his calf almost comically.</p><p>“So, do you want to talk about it?” Cassie asks again.</p><p>Bart pushes his bottom lip out, but nods. “I did bad things in the speedforce.”</p><p>“You did what you had to.”</p><p>The speedster looks up at Tim with furrowed eyebrows, “You don’t even know what I did.”</p><p>“We know you, Bart,” Kon says, reaching across their pile to ruffle his hair. “And you’re good.”</p><p>“But-”</p><p>“You’re good,” Cassie insists, pressing her head a little firmer against his. She laughs wetly, “Probably more than any of us.”</p><p>Tim takes stock of himself as she says it, but when he looks down he only sees his friend, not a sign of Gotham’s stain. Kon lays his arm across Cassie’s shoulders to tug at a strand of his hair, and when Tim turns to glare at him, he’s just smiling.</p><p>Bart shakes his head. “I think you’re all the best people I’ve ever met.”</p><p>“I think so too,” Kon says smugly. He chuckles, “I mean, it’s not like I can cry and hug just about anyone.”</p><p>“God, can you imagine Batman?” Tim says with a giggle. It dies out when he sees his friends' amused faces. “What?”</p><p>“Last week Batman hugged you for so long you fell asleep.”</p><p>“How do you know that?”</p><p>Kon grins, “Jon was over hanging out with Damian, he sent me a video.”</p><p>“Damian saw?” Tim groans. “I’m never going to hear the end of it.”</p><p>“Kon, first thing tomorrow, send me that video.”</p><p>“Yes ma’am.”</p><p>“Hey!” Tim protests, too stuck to be able to smack Kon’s arm, so he settles for a glare. Kon winks at him.</p><p>“Guys?” Bart calls quietly. “Can we make a promise?”</p><p>In Tim’s experience, promises don’t usually end well, and they’re rarely kept. It’s easier not to make them at all. Yet he doesn’t even think before he nods.</p><p>“Yeah, squirt, what is it?” Cassie asks casually.</p><p>Bart squirms further into Tim’s chest. “Don’t forget this.”</p><p>“This moment?”</p><p>“This us.”</p><p>Kon tips his head against Cassie's shoulder, lifting his hand, pinky out, “Promise.”</p><p>“Promise,” Cassie says with conviction, locking her own pinky with Kon’s.</p><p>Tim snorts, but links his pinky along with theirs. “Promise.”</p><p>Bart grins, slamming his pinky into the mix and then twisting his hand so all their fingers are entwined. Tim wasn’t aware he could hold hands with so many people. “Promise.”</p><p>It takes about twenty minutes for Bart to fall asleep, Tim watches as his eyes flutter closed, eyelashes brushing against Cassie’s cheek. Her eyes close soon after, then Kon’s. Tim stares at their shadow, cast by the light of his computer.</p><p>Slowly, he starts to untangle himself from his friends, trying to figure out a way to get out from under all three of them without waking anyone up.</p><p>“Don’t even try it.”</p><p>Very well done, Bruce would be proud of his stealth skills. Tim sighs, turning to glare at Kon. “I have work to do.”</p><p>Kon raises his eyebrow, “Calm down, it’ll be there in the morning.”</p><p>“That’s kind of the whole problem.”</p><p>“I’ll call Batman.”</p><p>“You wouldn’t.”</p><p>“I’ll call Nightwing.”</p><p>Tim gasps, “You wouldn’t!”</p><p> “Shut up,” Cassie whines, drawing out the ‘sh’. She reaches up blindly, eyes still closed, and smacks her hand over Tim’s face. She pushes it back so his neck is supported by the couch. “Go to sleep, you losers.”</p><p>“That’s offensive,” Tim tells her, voice muffled behind her hand.</p><p>“Good.”</p><p>Kon smiles at him, his eyes bright. “Cut yourself some slack, Boy Wonder.”</p><p>Tim licks Cassie’s palm, gratified by her cry of disgust. He sighs again, glancing down at Bart snoring on his chest. “Okay.”</p><p>“Good,” Cassie repeats.</p><p>The silence lasts about two minutes before Kon breaks it, “Guys?”</p><p>Cassie snorts and sits up halfway, half of the Red Robin symbol imprinted on her cheek. “What?”</p><p>“Do you think he’ll be okay?”</p><p>Tim furrows his eyebrows, but nods. “We’ll watch out for him.”</p><p>“Yeah, he’s got us.”</p><p>Kon nods and closes his eyes.</p><p>“Guys?”</p><p>“I swear to god, Tim.”</p><p>“Do you think we’ll be okay?”</p><p>He’s met with silence, and then Cassie says, “Yes.”</p><p>They leave it at that.</p><p>In a pile of his tired, battered, and incredibly kind best friends, a little smashed and uncomfortable, and a lot loved, Tim relaxes.</p>
  </div></div>
</body>
</html>